America is still a fairly young country in the grand scheme of things — young enough, anyway, that we tend to put a velvet rope and a "Do Not Touch" sign in front of anything more than 100 years old. Given that, an annual event making it to a quarter-century of existence is nothing to sneeze at.

That's especially true of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary at this year's event, Oct. 7-16 at the Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa. Although the festival seemed to be circling the drain a few years back — rescued by the 2013 sale of the historic Malco Theatre, which freed the festival from an anchor of debt — it seems to be stronger than ever these days, bringing in filmmakers from all over the world to screen 60 feature-length docs.

Recipients of the Spa City Award for Best Documentary Short will qualify for consideration in theDocumentary Short Subject category of the Annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run,provided the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.